This invention relates to chassis for electronic components, and, more specifically, to chassis for electronic components that include heatsinks.
When electronic components such as motor controllers are operated, heat is generated. Because these components are designed to operate within certain temperature ranges, this heat must be dissipated from the system in order to promote efficient operation and avoid overheating. Therefore, heatsinks have been used to control the temperature of electronics. Heatsinks are generally comprised of thermally conductive material and are thermally connected to the electronic components. Heatsinks also include features that increase surface area, such as fins, which provide greater heat loss, through convection, to the ambient environment. Thereby, heat can be transferred from the electronic components and dissipated to the atmosphere.
It can be beneficial to attach more than one electronic component to a heatsink. Because a heatsink is a good thermal conductor, during operation of the electronic components the bulk of the heatsink, including the portion to which the components are mounted, will be at approximately the same temperature. This can be problematic if one of the electronic components requires a lower operating temperature than the other and/or if this component emits less heat than the other while, at the same time, the other component is dissipating much more heat and driving up the temperature of the heatsink. In this case the ambient temperature of the environment the components are located in can also cause overheating of the lower operating temperature components.